Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Matt Young discovers an atmospheric and evocative release from Vince Clarke
Mute
Released: 17.11.23
Given his career as king of synth pop, Vince Clarke’s Songs Of Silence is likely to catch many off guard. This is not a shiny danceable release, it is atmospheric in a deliberately restrained and unshowy way. Lead single The Lamentations Of Jeremiah is an outlier in so much as the sawing of Reed Hays’ cello played over Clarke’s collected drones offers greater character. Album opener Cathedral is a wide sonic scene setter but White Rabbit immediately pulls the rug out from under that portentous build up.
The other tracks stand alone, lacking cohesion as part of the album. Having braced for something more experimental, for me personally the album doesn’t push the envelope far enough. It’d be sufficiently evocative as the soundtrack to a dystopian adventure movie but sadly doesn’t linger very memorably.
